HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee – With the Labor Day holiday weekend falling a week later than 2008, the year-over-year comparisons for the week ending 5 September 2009 were not as harsh as usual,according to Smith Travel Research.

Overall the U.S. hotel industry’s occupancy fell 1.4 percent to end the week at 53.4 percent, ADR dropped 8.6 percent to US$92.20, and RevPAR decreased 9.9 percent to finish at US$49.28.

The impact of the Republican National Convention, held 1-4 September 2008 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota-Wisconsin, also played a role in the weekly results. The difficult year-over-year comparisons resulted in the market reporting the largest decreases in all three key metrics. Occupancy dropped 21.9 percent to 61.5 percent, average daily rate fell 49.2 percent to US$89.22, and revenue per available room decreased 60.3 percent to US$54.88.

Among the Top 25 Markets, Norfolk-Virginia Beach, Virginia, reported the largest double-digit occupancy increase, jumping 16.5 percent to 54.8 percent, followed by San Francisco/San Mateo, California (+13.5 percent to 82.0 percent) and Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida (+12.8 percent to 41.6 percent.

Atlanta, Georgia (+7.2 percent to US$87.62) and Norfolk-Virginia Beach (+4.2 percent to US$94.93) were the only markets to report ADR increases.

Norfolk-Virginia Beach jumped 21.5 percent in RevPAR to US$51.98—the largest increase in that metric—followed by San Francisco (+4.1 percent to US$109.55) and Tampa-St. Petersburg (+3.3 percent to US$33.58).